Some fans got the idea that Frank Herbert modeled his entire duniverse after Islamic history, wich is bunk if you ask me. The Fremen of course were, but they were just the people that the story largely centered around. On the top of my head:

The Atreides; tracing their lineage to Atreus (where are they now, btw )
Harkonnen; a Finnish name. Vladimir is Russian wich makes an odd combination.
Corrino; name simply derived from a place. Shaddam seems to be a variation of Saddam (a common Arabic name) and the title is Padishah emperor, but there are no other obvious references that I remember.
Other House names that I can recall: Moritani, Ginaz,...?

My guess is that these names are merely remnants of the past and that the members of the Landsraad are part of some uper class meta-culture; that they all speak galach and adhere formally to the OC teachings (but in practice are mostly agnostic or even atheist)
Below that are a variet of planet bound cultures; the Fremen included. The Baron said to the emperor about Muad'Dib: "One of the Umma, surely. A Fremen fanatic, a religious adventurer. They crop up regularly on the fringes of civilization." So I conclude that there were a reasonable amount of Zensunni among the poor, planetbound masses wich could explain the large influx of pilgrims after the events in Dune.

What got me thinking about all this in the first place is a part in CoD that mentions that the Ixians have a nickname for Muad'Dibs religion. I can't find it right now, but it was something that sounded like Chinese or Korean to me (Galach is supposed to be Inglo-Slavic, and it's only the lingua franca afterall)

Muad'Dib's religion had another name now; it was Shien-san-Shao, an Ixian label which designated the intensity and insanity of those who thought they could bring the universe to paradise at the point of a crysknife. But that too would change as lx had changed. For they were merely the ninth planet of their sun, and had even forgotten the language which had given them their name.

The phrase looks like Chinese, but I haven't bothered to try to decipher what it might be based on. (Because without the original characters, it could be a lot of things; the romanization FH used isn't a standard one. In modern pinyin it would probably be Xian-san-Shao.

I've speculated (somewhere) about the Ixians having a strong Asian component in their background, based on this and (less persuasively) the name Pinky and The Brian give an Ixian character in Grunters and Sadworms (Shayama Sen...which looks Japanese)...assuming they may have done so based on something in FH's notes or that they have reached the same conclusion.

Maybe FH had Japanese electronics makers in mind when thinking about Ix and Richese?

"Let the dead give water to the dead. As for me, it's NO MORE FUCKING TEARS!"

Not odd at all. The two countries boarder each other. Finland even joined the Axis powers during WWII because Russia was an Ally and Russia had designs on Finland (like it always has).

The BT had some language elements that pointed to Arabic culture.

Yeah, I thought it was odd mainly because of the resentment the Finns would have had because of the Winter War. But before that Finland was part of the Russian tsarist empire for centuries, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Russian first names there.

Muad'Dib's religion had another name now; it was Shien-san-Shao, an Ixian label which designated the intensity and insanity of those who thought they could bring the universe to paradise at the point of a crysknife. But that too would change as lx had changed. For they were merely the ninth planet of their sun, and had even forgotten the language which had given them their name.

The phrase looks like Chinese, but I haven't bothered to try to decipher what it might be based on. (Because without the original characters, it could be a lot of things; the romanization FH used isn't a standard one. In modern pinyin it would probably be Xian-san-Shao.

I've speculated (somewhere) about the Ixians having a strong Asian component in their background, based on this and (less persuasively) the name Pinky and The Brian give an Ixian character in Grunters and Sadworms (Shayama Sen...which looks Japanese)...assuming they may have done so based on something in FH's notes or that they have reached the same conclusion.

Maybe FH had Japanese electronics makers in mind when thinking about Ix and Richese?

It's tempting to think of Ix and Richese as Japan and, say, Taiwan or Korean--the one a center of electronics and the other known for "knock-offs"!

The BT seem to have Islamic and Asian elements, and their xenophobia does remind me of some of those cultures that resist Westernization (Tibet, etc.).

It's hard not to see the cultures of Dune as allegories of twentieth-century cultures on earth. Certainly Frank was very fascinated with Arabic culture and others, so he did speculate how they would evolve if they branched out to other planets. But he merged and blended cultures so much that it's hard to say one = another. The Atreides eat "chopstick fare" and use Western utensils; they also so Spanish-style bullfighting yet are descended from Greeks, they say. So elements are hybridized so that Frank can use different elements from various cultures where he likes.

One of the great things FH did IMO was to extrapolate religious evolution.

If one accepts that Christianity was in essence a merger of Judaism and Buddhism ideals, then the next step would be the merger of Islam and Buddhism (i.e. Zensunni), throwing in a little Sufi mysticism for good measure.

Muad'Dib's religion had another name now; it was Shien-san-Shao, an Ixian label which designated the intensity and insanity of those who thought they could bring the universe to paradise at the point of a crysknife. But that too would change as lx had changed. For they were merely the ninth planet of their sun, and had even forgotten the language which had given them their name.

The phrase looks like Chinese, but I haven't bothered to try to decipher what it might be based on. (Because without the original characters, it could be a lot of things; the romanization FH used isn't a standard one. In modern pinyin it would probably be Xian-san-Shao.

I've speculated (somewhere) about the Ixians having a strong Asian component in their background, based on this and (less persuasively) the name Pinky and The Brian give an Ixian character in Grunters and Sadworms (Shayama Sen...which looks Japanese)...assuming they may have done so based on something in FH's notes or that they have reached the same conclusion.

Maybe FH had Japanese electronics makers in mind when thinking about Ix and Richese?

It's tempting to think of Ix and Richese as Japan and, say, Taiwan or Korean--the one a center of electronics and the other known for "knock-offs"!

The BT seem to have Islamic and Asian elements, and their xenophobia does remind me of some of those cultures that resist Westernization (Tibet, etc.).

It's hard not to see the cultures of Dune as allegories of twentieth-century cultures on earth. Certainly Frank was very fascinated with Arabic culture and others, so he did speculate how they would evolve if they branched out to other planets. But he merged and blended cultures so much that it's hard to say one = another. The Atreides eat "chopstick fare" and use Western utensils; they also so Spanish-style bullfighting yet are descended from Greeks, they say. So elements are hybridized so that Frank can use different elements from various cultures where he likes.

I always thought of the Bene Tleilax as quite heavily Japanese. FH was very good at extrapolating cultural trends, and at this point it looks like the Japanese *better* start using axlotl tanks if they want to survive.

It appears, however, that the Bene Tleilax themselves changed in their own history, oscillating between the Zen (Zen == Japanese Buddhism, yes?) and Sunni Islamic elements of their own philosophies. The ones in HoD and CHD seem very, very Islamic - even with a Jewish custom here and there (particularly the ritual bathing after contact with powindah) - but the ones seen in DM, ChOD and GEoD seem obsessed with the self-contradictory koans of Zen philosophy.

moreh_yeladim wrote:I always thought of the Bene Tleilax as quite heavily Japanese. FH was very good at extrapolating cultural trends, and at this point it looks like the Japanese *better* start using axlotl tanks if they want to survive.

Never got that myself.

And it's still a bit early to start sounding the ethnic death knell, I should think.

"Let the dead give water to the dead. As for me, it's NO MORE FUCKING TEARS!"

moreh_yeladim wrote:I always thought of the Bene Tleilax as quite heavily Japanese. FH was very good at extrapolating cultural trends, and at this point it looks like the Japanese *better* start using axlotl tanks if they want to survive.

Never got that myself.

And it's still a bit early to start sounding the ethnic death knell, I should think.

Freakzilla wrote:That's why I'm thinking of becoming black. The government benifits alone make it worth it.

<~~~ I already have a fro.

My wife is already part black, her family is from Sicily.

Sorry, but what Italian Sicilians have to do your black people? I know they have curling hair and a skin color more dark than white people, but thats not necessary direct related to black origins (I can be wrong).

Freakzilla wrote:That's why I'm thinking of becoming black. The government benifits alone make it worth it.

<~~~ I already have a fro.

My wife is already part black, her family is from Sicily.

Sorry, but what Italian Sicilians have to do your black people? I know they have curling hair and a skin color more dark than white people, but thats not necessary direct related to black origins (I can be wrong).

Freakzilla wrote:That's why I'm thinking of becoming black. The government benifits alone make it worth it.

<~~~ I already have a fro.

My wife is already part black, her family is from Sicily.

Sorry, but what Italian Sicilians have to do your black people? I know they have curling hair and a skin color more dark than white people, but thats not necessary direct related to black origins (I can be wrong).

Freakzilla wrote:That's why I'm thinking of becoming black. The government benifits alone make it worth it.

<~~~ I already have a fro.

My wife is already part black, her family is from Sicily.

Sorry, but what Italian Sicilians have to do your black people? I know they have curling hair and a skin color more dark than white people, but thats not necessary direct related to black origins (I can be wrong).

It's a result of the Mores (Africans) invading Sicily. They changed the gene pool.

Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.~Pink Snowman